1878-S Morgan Silver Dollar NGC MS63 Brown Label

1878-S Morgan Dollars

San Francisco opened in 1853 as an official United States Mint facility, but did not enter full-scale silver dollar production until the introduction of the Trade Dollar in 1873. The following year the San Francisco Mint managed to produce 2.5 million Trade dollars, the first time they made more than one million silver dollars in a given year.

The Morgan silver dollar of 1878 was the first standard size silver dollar minted in San Francisco in comparable quantities, with nearly 10 million minted. Seated Dollars had been made at the San Francisco facility in a few different years, but the highest single mintage of those was in 1859 with a mere 20,000 coins struck.

Of course with this increase in mintage comes increased availability, which for the collector means affordable coins. 1878 not only marks the first year of the storied Morgan dollar, but the first year in which any standard size silver dollar is readily obtainable for budget conscious collectors.

Why only one type of 1878-S Morgan Dollar?

In discussing 1878 Morgan Dollars it is difficult to not mention that the Philadelphia coins were struck with three slightly different reverse designs. Of course natural progression would cause one to question which reverse styles are obtainable with the 'S' mint mark of San Francisco?

The answer is a rather simple one, but the reason is somewhat deeper. There is only one reverse style known for 1878-S Morgan silver dollars - the 'normal' 7 tail feather design of 1878 with the convex chest details on the eagle. The reason that only this design is known for this issue is because the dies that made coins were all prepared in Philadelphia at that time. By the time the dies were ready to be shipped to San Francisco, the 8 tail feather design had been retired in favor of the 7 tail feather design, and since only one shipment of dies was made to San Francisco that year, none of the later 'Reverse of 1879' dies were made for use in San Francisco until 1879.